MN-Sen: The Senator's New Clothes

Apparently, sweetheart deals on Capitol Hill apartments aren't the only perks to being Minnesota's senior Senator.

Nor are the perks limited to being a fishing buddy of indicted Senator Ted Stevens.

Nor are they limited to nifty jobs for Coleman's wife. Laurie Coleman, aspiring actress and inventor of the "Blo & Go", was hooked up with a nifty job with a risk-management firm in Minneapolis - a position for which her immediate qualifications are somewhat questionable. Shockingly, the company oh-so-coincidentally made heavy donations to Coleman's campaigns.

Now, it seems, the Senator has been receiving a boatload of free stuff - junkets to the Bahamas, suits from Neiman-Marcus, and the like - from a Minnesota businessman and heavy GOP contributor.

Coleman also has a close relationship with Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy, a big donor to the G.O.P. and to Coleman. In 2005, the senator and his daughter jetted down to the Bahamas on a private plane owned by Kazeminy, a trip valued at $3,960. In 2004, he and his wife flew to Paris on Kazeminy’s plane, a $2,870 value.

"The trips ... fall under the Senate gift rule, which allows for pre-approved gifts from long-term friends, the Star Tribune said in a 2006 story about the trips. "Coleman said he has known Kazeminy for more than a decade and the two have spent Christmas together. ‘It’s a friend with a plane,’ Coleman said."

I’ve been told by two sources that Kazeminy has in the past covered the bills for Coleman’s lavish clothing purchases at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis. The sources were not certain of the dates of the purchases; if they were made before Coleman joined the Senate in 2003, he obviously would not be required to report it under senate rules. But having a private businessman pay for your clothing is never a good idea if you’re a public official (Coleman was mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002).

A senior Senator taking expensive suits from a contributor probably sounds awfully familiar, and it should: in 2002, Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli retired in shame after just such a scandal.

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics issued one of its sternest rebukes in recent years when it "severely admonished" Sen. Bob Torricelli (D-N.J.) for accepting expensive gifts from a political donor-turned-convict.

In a three-page judgment, the panel chastised Torricelli for allowing businessman David Chang--a friend who later was convicted of illegally siphoning money into the senator's campaign--to provide him with personal gifts that some have called bribes. According to Chang, these "gifts" included cash, Italian-made suits, a 52-inch television and an $8,000 Rolex watch.

Coleman's people insist he's done nothing wrong. But they steadfastly refuse to answer any questions about gifts from Kazeminy. That is meant literally; Coleman's campaign manager held a press conference today in which he was peppered with questions about these gifts, Laurie Coleman's job, and various other ethics issues.

His answers give new meaning to the term "stonewalling"; even Scott McClellan in all his glory was not arrayed like Coleman's guy. Watch the whole thing:

It begs the question of what Coleman has to hide. Coleman himself had the same nonanswer, and added a nifty little "eff you" to the Minnesota blogs who helped break this story open.

The refusal of Coleman, and his campaign manager, to directly answer questions about Coleman's possible ethical mistakes speaks volumes. You simply don't stonewall like this if you have nothing to hide.

Coleman is dropping like a stone in the polls, now virtually deadlocked with Orange to Blue Democrat Al Franken.

Throw him an anvil. We need to beat Norm Coleman to get to 60 Senate seats; go to the Orange to Blue Page and push Al Franken over.

On the web:
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Al Franken for U.S. Senate